Justice
by Firako-chan
Summary: AU 'combined universe'. A few moments telling the story of the uneasy truce between Crystal Tokyo and the Sanq Kingdom in the not-so-distant future. Hiiro/Rei centered, with a couple other minor romances, and extremely non-sequential.
1. Judgment

Author's Note: This is a one-shot, set in a sort of merged-future setting. All the background I'm giving you right now is that Crystal Tokyo exists basically in the gundam universe, and is allied with the Sanq kingdom in support of a pacifist earth. While Neo Queen Serenity, her consort and senshi rely on their magical abilities, other nations still make use of advanced technology, a la gundam.

Rei Hino could not remember herself ever being described as a "nervous woman", but then again, no one had ever seen her as she was now: her extremities chill to the touch, hands shaking uncontrollably, her brow bright with a thin sheen of perspiration. Her eyes flicked quickly down the row of senshi, fervently hoping that her condition would go unnoticed. It was true that none of the nine women sitting on the bench to her right truly wanted watch this trial of a recently captured criminal, but their kingdom was co-leader of the new alliance that had finally brokered the end of the second war, and they were honor bound to attend, since his crimes officially labeled him a war criminal. But none wished to be there less than Mars.

The magistrate half-heartedly clacked his gavel, signaling the guard at the door to let the prisoner in. The clerk read the name before handing off the files, a formality for once, because there wasn't a soul in the room who wasn't intimately aware of the details of _this _case, from the audience behind the glass barrier, to the magistrate and clerk in their elevated seats at the front of the chamber, to the eight women who sat passively on the same bench as Rei. The door in the back of the room opened, and a murmur spread across the room as a handcuffed man was led into the room, flanked by five armed Enforcers.

The senshi of Mars was quite lucky in one respect that Hiiro Yuy was such a high profile figure in the political world. Her comrades, her queen, the national leaders in the audience, all of them had shrewd enough wits to note her panicked eyes and the way she nearly fainted when she heard his name. She gritted her teeth and straightened her back a little, some strength of will returning to her; Rei Hino did not faint. Instead though, every eye followed the motion of the dark-haired man as he walked down the center aisle of the main chamber, glass walls protecting him from the observers, and up into the antechamber, to stand before the judge, sandwiched between the queens of Crystal Tokyo on the wall to his left and the ruling faction of the Sanq Kingdom on his right. She could see why they stared; the man made quite an impressive image, in his strange garb.

Both leaders of the alliance left a unique mark on the proceedings, Relena's no-nonsense, and quite traditional approach to justice was predominant, but Serenity's more ceremonial one shone through in careful grooming and white robes for each prisoner. White robes that, on Hiiro Yuy, gave the appearance of a fallen angel, especially with his eyes - dark with a glint that more than hinted of having seen too much. Those eyes turned to Rei's briefly as he was somewhat hustled past her end of the bench, farthest from the magistrate. But as soon as contact was made, they flicked away. Rei forced her attention away from the Lucifer whose back now faced her, to pay heed to the enumeration of the criminal's various crimes.

"…the confirmed assassinations of 24 OZ personnel both combat and non-combat, the alleged assassinations of 47 other personnel that cannot be confirmed by this court at this time, use of unauthorized resources and intelligence in military aggression, the killing and injuring of civilians in pursuit of goals, insubordination, treason."

The man on the high pedestal looked to the accused as he finished his list, but flinched away. Not many men could match the strength in Hiiro's eyes, Rei thought briefly.

"Hiiro Yuy, of these crimes you stand accused. How do you plead?"

"Guilty."

At that, Rei's heart dropped. She had blindly hoped that she wouldn't have to say it, had futilely wished that Hiiro might go against his word and speak her guilt so she wouldn't have to. But she had always known, always known that it would come to this.

"By the laws set down in the Treaty of Tokyo, you are sentenced to death. Do you have anything to say to the court in explanation of your actions?"

Hiiro remained silent, but the words echoed in her mind as if he were thinking it at her with all his might. She stood on steady feet before she even knew what she was doing, opening her mouth, only to be interrupted.

Relena Peacecraft, ruler of the Sanq kingdom, had beat her to speak.

"Hiiro, when you came to us, years ago, we were all happy to have you, all believed with all the trust we had in us that you would be loyal. Why then, did you do these things? Why did you turn your back? Why did you break faith?"

"Because I asked him to." Rei Hino certainly knew how to drop a bomb, and this one rendered everyone speechless, giving her enough time to leave her seat and join Hiiro below.

"I asked him to do these things. I had my own plans for ending the war. And I told no one except Hiiro Yuy and a few no longer among the living. I convinced him to join the alliance specifically to carry out my plans. I cannot say now even whether I prolonged the war or hastened its end, but under our laws, what I have done is punishable by death and death alone."

"And Mr. Yuy's is reduced to the choice between life imprisonment and death," the magistrate finished absentmindedly for her, still stunned, as the rest of the room, by her revelation.

"I will go where Rei goes."

At the sound of his voice, Rei whipped her head around to look at him, only to find his eyes already on her, and she found herself unable to turn away.

'All this time, and those orbs still melt me' she thought vaguely to herself.

Enforcers guided her arms behind her back, handcuffing her with what she imagined was special care, but her eyes remained locked with those of her fallen angel.

"It wasn't, Rei, that you asked me. It was because I love you."

Rei could feel her heart bleeding, but they were leading her through a door, and Hiiro through another.

Fin

Author's Note II: So, I was feeling a bit creative. I know it's not much. I'm sort of intrigued by this story's universe, and you might see some more one-shots from me. Feel free to ask questions, oh, and review.


	2. First Meetings

A/N: Prequel! Kind of! Same rules as before. Totally AU, non-canonical, etc.

The first time Lady Mars set eyes on Hiiro Yuy, not a single wisp of treasonous thought had yet to cross her mind (excepting a couple involving sapphire blue eyes – but _that_ had been a long time ago). He often accompanied Queen Relena Peacecraft, always shadowing her footsteps when he did, and always taking the seat to her left at the long negotiation table. Or at least that was what Rei had been told. Although her queen had been attempting to forge an alliance with this Sanq kingdom for nearly a month, Rei Hino had yet to meet this fabled perfect soldier in person. Only three senshi ever accompanied the queen and king on a given day, and Relena had a similar arrangement with her five top "generals".

Yuy was not a man who could quite seem ordinary, not with all the tales, nay, legends that accompanied his name. Rei was not entirely sure she wanted to make a deal with these pacifists, and her people skills were notoriously bad, but even she could see the advantage of having a man with such a reputation on their side. Still, as he entered the room, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of disappointment. He was a not a very tall man, barely topping Relena in her heels, and the uniform, grey, with darker tassels on the shoulder, that generally exaggerated the broadness of men's shoulders, only seemed to emphasize the narrowness of his. The stories of his taciturn nature, though, proved very accurate, and it wasn't until the senshi of Mars' own famous temper got the better of her that she saw a flash of anything from him.

To be quite honest, while the senshi did tend to rotate in and out of these negotiations, Rei herself tended to be more "out" than "in", since she was not as disposed towards this sort of activity as some of her friends were. She managed attentiveness, if not active participation most of the time, and if the evaluation of Hiiro Yuy had gotten a little bit of the way of even that, well, who could blame her?

Still, she was only barely returning her attention to the matter of discussion as some lesser personage from the Peacecraft faction finally threw his two cents, in the form of a challenge, onto the floor.

"But if you are, as you claim, to be born with these innate powers of destruction…how can we trust you not to revert to your wantonly violent ways after the war is over?"

"Pardon me." Rei interjected, her tone of voice belying the politeness of her words, "But I am sure you did not mean the offense you just committed."

The lackey broke under the heat of her violet gaze, but a certain prussian-eyed soldier was not so easily cowed.

"I'm afraid I don't see the offense. It's a valid concern, and one that has come up many times in our private discussions."

Rei nearly smiled, as she caught a glimpse of Queen Relena, pressing her eyelids together for a little too long to be a mere blink. At least she was not the only one who made her leader a little exasperated at these conferences.

"So, Hiiro Yuy, you also suspect that this is a ploy."

"Once all the war technology is gone from the Earth Sphere, who will still have power to kill? You can't prove that you won't take over with your cute sparkly little magic tricks."

"What need do we have to prove ourselves to you? The moon ruled in peace for millenia!"

"Oh right, this whole story. Listen, the earth's history is full of empires who deluded themselves into thinking they were descended from gods. But in the end, they were mortal. And so are you."

And then Rei snapped. On the edge of her seat, leaning over the table, she summoned a flame to the palm of her hand.

"No! You listen. How sparkly is this? I could burn you to a crisp. DON'T reach for your weapon. This? This is just a little bit of warmth – but when you point that gun in my face, THAT is an act of hostility. Ice can kill just as well as fire, and our Hotaru doesn't require either. If we wanted domination, we could have it, and all your little robots couldn't stop us. What we want is peace. And coexistence. But if you can't see past your ridiculous paranoias, then maybe that's not an option after all."

At this point, not a single person at the table was breathing. No one dared move, half because they couldn't decide who to take out – the moron from their kingdom, or the moron on the other side of the table. Finally, Serenity spoke.

"Rei! That's enough!"

The fire senshi could barely hear her queen, as rage roared in her ears. Serenity, seated on Rei's right, reached out with her left hand, placing it solidly on top of Rei's, flinching as the fire engulfed it.

"Usagi!" Rei shrieked and snuffed the flame. Serenity slumped in her seat, and hell broke loose. Endymion ordered Rei from the room, and Venus got on her comm to summon Hotaru. Both Serenity and Relena were apologizing profusely to each other, and affirmed their commitment to a treaty, though agreeing to end talks for the day. Other members of the parties began to file out of the room, but when Queen Relena sought Hiiro, to order him to a private space where she could have a talk with him, she found the perfect soldier already gone.

The talks were going on in a secluded mountain resort, and Hiiro found Rei next to a Koi pond in one of its many, lush gardens. She was kneeling, with her eyes closed, and her face calm, but the singed grass underneath her shins told a different story about her mood. He walked slowly, careful to approach from the front, so as not to appear as an ambush. Warily, he sat cross-legged across the pond from her, removing his gun, and putting it several feet away from him.

"I should not have lost my temper." Hiiro was not startled by her voice, though her eyes remained closed. He had heard plenty about the 'powers' of these women. He never bought into ESP, but then again, he had also never bought anyone's palm being a zippo. He didn't answer her, instead wondering briefly why he had bothered to come. It wasn't as if she was going to admit to his suspicions outright. But, then again, she did seem to be the weak link in the group, diplomatically speaking. She might let _something_ slip if he aggravated her.

She frowned at his silence, her eyes still closed, but the circle of singed grass expanded.

"You think it was a setup."

Hiiro wasn't impressed or worried. Afterall, it didn't take a contemplative nature to figure out that he wasn't here to apologize or flirt. It wasn't as if she was actually reading his mind. He remained silent, observing how angry it made her.

Sure enough, flames started to lick at the edge of the halo of burnt grass. Rei grimaced a little, and they disappeared.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

Now Hiiro was taken off guard.

"What?"

"You think we're too dumb to figure out that Relena didn't tell little Captain Marcasek exactly what to say?"

Hiiro narrowed his brows. He hadn't, actually thought of that. Not that Relena would have said anything outright – but it had been discussed in their private talks (at his urging, nonetheless) and it would have only taken a significant look, or nod for the underling to understand his orders.

"Does it bother you? It doesn't bother me. And, not that you'll believe me, nothing was planned. But you must have wondered why they even bring me to these talks, when I'm so hopeless at being a diplomat, much less a pacifist. And Usagi did so want to show her dedication to the common cause."

Hiiro suddenly understood. So what if it was set up? It wasn't as if the smell of burning flesh in that conference room was fake. What could he tell Relena? That they were playing the same game his own side was? Yeah, that was really going monkeywrench the negotiations. And right now, Hiiro was feeling more and more like he wasn't going to mention this little encounter to the Queen at all.

"I'm not much of a diplomat either," he said softly, surprised at the lack of surety in his own voice.

"We know. But you are very scary."

Which was true, of course, but Hiiro didn't feel particularly flattered by the tone in which the now-cooling senshi said it. It made him feel like a dimestore monster mask, rather than the weapon he knew himself to be.

"Now, perfect soldier. Let me ask you a question. Did it work?"

Hiiro thought about it. It certainly might give Relena enough impetus to trust the other side. Even if burning her hand had been a gesture, Queen Serenity certainly had shown dedication.

"I suppose it might have, at that."

"Then our demonstration is deemed satisfactory. What about yours?"

Now Hiiro was truly intrigued. The other information she had divulged was either irrelevant or observable by a keen eye. But if he could get her to tell him what kind of 'gesture of faith' that the moon faction would expect – that would be a prize worth having.

She opened her eyes, and Hiiro found himself hopelessly riveted by the intensity of her stare, which belied her casual tone of voice.

"This is only a little forewarning – we really don't have secrets, Yuy, so I'm not spilling any. Surely your side must have contemplated the trading of lieutenants."

Hiiro made a noise which Rei took to be an affirmation, so she continued.

"Of course, this is a major treaty, so someone a little more important than just a lieutenant would be more appropriate, don't you think? Maybe...someone like a general."

"You want me."

"That's one way of putting it."

"Surely you know we'll ask for Venus in return."

"And she's more than you deserve, but you'll get her."

"What use am I to your...moon kingdom?"

"You aren't. In fact, I think the general consensus right now is for General Winner. Everyone else seems to think that he will annoy us less. Well, and that he's a bit dreamy."

"And what use am I to you?"

"Did you know that Mars is a war god?"

"Is that supposed to be relevant?"

"I've just thought that if I have to play by the rules of this treaty my queen is cooking up with yours, it might be nice to have some around whose nature is as lacking in pacifism as my own."

Though he wasn't quite sure how to go about it, Hiiro laughed.

Thus was borne the union of Crystal Tokyo and the Sanq Kingdom.

Author's Note II (Return to Witch Mountain): ...so deleted Unrequited. About that. Apparently I failed to meet their strict standards for spelling, punctuation, and grammar. How that's possible, I don't know. On the other hand, I might have used a swear in the last chapter I posted, or something. Mea culpa. If it's the grammar thing though, which is what the automated email I got implied, that's some real strange deletion selection process they must have. Anyway. I wrote most of that story a long time ago, and I don't have most of the chapters backed up anymore, and the whole deletion thing sort of put me off that storyline. It seems like they could issue a warning or something. For the two people (this may be an overestimation) who may have liked to see the rest of the beginning, the middle, and even possibly the end of that story, I'm deeply sorry.


	3. Plans

A/N: The usual disclaimers, etc. etc. This scene takes place a little bit after the trial in Chapter 1. This chapter has zero appearances by either Hiiro or Rei, which is a little weird, considering.

A woman once known primarily as Minako paced back and forth in her chambers. Her rooms, usually lit with bright lights ricocheting off a myriad of mirrors, chandeliers, and other sparkly knickknacks, were dim tonight, with one small lamp only lighting a small section of the room. She paced in and out of the radius of amber light, pointedly ignoring the fidgets of the two men sitting on the nearby divan. One was a blonde, who rested his elbow on the same end table as the lamp, its light turning his hair into a glittering crown. The other slouched gracefully on the other side of the couch, half in darkness; his long legs and the tail of his braided hair were the only parts of him visible. Lady Venus couldn't say why Duo and Quatre were here with her in the aftermath of what ended up being the trial of their respective best friends. She had known them well at one point, of course, having been Crystal Tokyo's liaison to the Peacecraft faction, but, before today, she hadn't seen them in over 5 years – roughly since the war had ended. But her apartments in the sprawling royal park in Crystal Tokyo were not so far from the courthouse, and after the shocking events of the afternoon, the three, who at one time had even been something of an unholy trio, had somehow gravitated to each other and ended up in a dark room, in silence, for hours.

Finally, Venus stopped in her paces, suddenly twirling around to face the two men, long blonde hair arcing dramatically through the semi-dark.

"Are you just going to let him die, then?" she demanded. An angry exclamation, to be sure, but its edge was undercut with desperation. While she had once called these men good friends, there had always been a cold rationality to them. She didn't believe that such coldness was really in their hearts – but she couldn't be sure. She knew she would go to the ends of the Earth, she would sacrifice everything to rescue Rei-chan from such a fate. But she didn't know about the two men in front of her.

Her nervousness was further reinforced by the silence that met her. The eventual reply was also less than comforting, as the long silence was broken only by Duo's low chuckle.

"D-duo?"

"Don't worry, lady. I can't speak for Quatre, exactly, but we weren't ever planning on letting your friends kill Hiiro."

"They're your friends too, Duo. Or, at least, they're Relena's," Quatre continued, turning to face her now. "we're sorry, Venus, we didn't mean to worry you. Duo is right – neither of us mean to let Hiiro or your friend die. We were just a little shocked by the whole thing."

"He means how Hiiro hooked up with your friend under Relena's nose without anyone noticing"

"You don't have to be so crude about it, Duo. But one does wonder... how long has this been going on?"

Stunned at their responses, Venus stood dumbfounded for a few moments before she figured out what Quatre was getting at.

"Oh! You mean...when we traded him for me as a sign of good faith...Well, now that I think about it, Rei sort of said that it should be Yuy. And that's what Serenity did. I can't even explain it. Before that, we had pretty much agreed on Winner"

"What? On Quatre? Boring, white-bread Quatre? That's ridiculous! I'm offended."

"Duo, we just thought he would be less annoying than you!"

"Like that's any better!"

Although Quatre knew Duo was feigning outrage, he also knew for experience that the two could go on like that for hours if not brought back to the subject at hand. He cleared his throat loudly, and waited for them to stop bickering before he continued.

"Relena once confided to me, that . . . Hiiro didn't seem all that displeased about being sent to you when she told him about it."

"Wait," Duo said, a curious expression on his face, "that was right after Relena went to have 'tea' with your Queen."

"Which was only the day after Mars and Hiiro had that big spat in the negotiating room..."

Now it was Mina's turn to giggle. "You guys are still assuming that Rei is subtle enough to pull that kind of fake out. Not possible. Rei-chan's definitely matured in the last 100 years. . . but some things are just not in her nature."

Duo and Quatre gave each other a quick look. Even back in best days of their friendship they had never gotten used to the blonde woman's offhand comments about being over 200 years old. Especially now, while they had aged well over the last half decade – she barely looked like she had gone through a year of aging. While she always maintained that she and her friends were not immortal, exactly, looking at her now, it was hard to believe it.

"Then why would she ask for him?"

"Uhhh, well, Rei-chan has always been a little mysterious. That's really why we all went along with it when she said we should try to get Hiiro Yuy. For all we knew, she had seen something in the fire."

"Spots, probably, if she's been staring into a fire. That's quite bad for your eyes, you know."

"Duo...you aren't being helpful," Quatre muttered, as he pressed his eyelids together in exasperation. He knew Duo was really very sharp, if not the greatest long-term strategist, but it was hard for him to to shed the devil-may-care attitude. " I'm sorry, Venus, are you saying that Mars is precognizant? And that she had a vision of the future that made her choose Hiiro?"

"Er... well, that is, that's why we went along with her. But, Rei-chan is sort of like a wildfire. Sometimes... she just follows the direction of the wind."

"What exactly are you saying, blondie?"

"Well... maybe she just liked him?"

Faced with the weirdness of a group of beautiful, powerful, close-to-immortal women who make their important political decisions based on the whims of their most unpredictable, possibly psychic member, Quatre and Duo decided to proceed as men in such situations have done for centuries – by ignoring it.

"Man, I gotta hand it to Hiiro. He could have had a beautiful quasi-queen who is a little bit crazy, but no, he has to have the gorgeous demi-goddess who is _absolutely nuts_."

"You're just jealous, Duo. Like you would have the courage to say that in front of either Relena or Lady Mars."

"Of course I wouldn't. I said they were crazy – not me."

"Boys. Can we get back to point? You know, saving Rei and Hiiro?"

"Hiiro's execution will likely be soon. There are a lot of factions under Relena's control that weren't happy with pacifism in the first place. They'll be calling for Relena to not be hypocritical and execute him immediately."

"And Serenity won't have much of an excuse to delay Rei-chan's execution long after Hiiro's. She's been accused of playing favorites before. She simply won't have a choice. So the sooner we act, the better. Should we wait at least until they set a date for the execution?"

"Venus, are you planning on just waltzing in there, and blasting our way out? This is going to take planning, _careful planning_," Quatre emphasized, while giving meaningful looks to each of the other two. "It's pretty unlikely we're going to be ready for this in the time it takes them to decide on a day. In any case, it's best that we let them decide on a date – we don't want to make it look like Relena or Serenity is involved in this"

"But some of you will have to be."

All three of them whipped their heads around to look for the source of the new voice. Two shady figures stepped into the light – the taller one, who had just spoken, they knew to be Uranus, with one arm wrapped tightly around Neptune's smaller shoulders. Uranus, suitably pleased with their dramatic entrance, continued.

"Someone's going to have to be responsible for the breakout. And whoever it is will be a branded criminal, just like Rei and Yuy." Although Uranus did not look specifically at Venus or the two men specifically as she said this, her partner did not flinch away from Mina's desperate expression.

"Wait, why are you helping us plan treason anyway? Aren't you supposed to be loyal to the crown?"

"We're supposed to protect from outside invasions. You're her personal guard – and you're here talking treason. We'd like to see all the senshi stay alive – no matter the political cost." This was Neptune, serene and confident, though her eyes occasionally strayed to the mirror tucked into her belt.  
Venus and Quatre seemed willing to be distracted by the newcomers' return to the subject at hand, but Duo was not so easily pleased.

"How long have you been here? How did you get in here?"

"We haven't been here long. It's magic, Mr. Maxwell, hasn't Mina showed you any?"

"Well, Lady Uranus, if you'll recall, as a condition of our agreement, your Queen agreed to submit a comprehensive, and confidential list of your powers. I can't remember such transportation device among them."

"We told you about the Sailor Teleport, didn't we?"

"Which requires no less than 5 women, does it not?"

Venus rolled her eyes, "Haruka, are you trying to start a war? Duo, Quatre, they've been here since before we got here, I'm sure. Haruka just stilled the air a bit to cover their breathing. I know that's on the list – I wrote it, after all. Besides, we _do_ have more important things to discuss."

"Yes," Neptune joined, hoping to help Venus return the conversation to its original point, "Haruka and I think that two of you will have to be visibly involved with the escape. The only way to create the right opportunity is to have serious authority pressing on both sides of the alliance."

"And how Serenity and Relena are going to deal with this?"

"It'll be tough. But they can weather it – as long as they're seen as doling out the right punishment."

"Which means we'll have to go into hiding with Rei and Hiiro."

"Right," Venus said, her voice unwavering, but her eyes distant, "it'll have to be me. I'm Rei's best friend. And it means that we don't need to involve anyone else." She meant that there would be fewer people involved in their technically treasonous plotting, but everyone understood the implication: they didn't know who they could trust not to betray them.

That settled, the three women turned to Duo and Quatre, only to find them looking at each other silently. Just as Venus was about to complain about what was and was not the appropriate time to have a staring contest, Duo spoke.

"I'll go, Quatre," he said, not breaking eye contact with the other man, "your connections in industry and government are going to be needed for Relena get through this."

And it was Quatre who looked away first, lips pressed together tightly, eyes unfocused.

Venus felt like she had missed something. She watched Quatre as Haruka and Michiru outlined a few more things they would need to do, but he said nothing, and she couldn't read his expression. The two other senshi left soon after that, and Duo after them, right after making sure he wouldn't be seen. Quatre stood up to go, but embraced her briefly before she realized what he was doing.

"Goodbye, Mina," he said softly, ducking through the door and down the dark hallway, before she could protest that she wasn't leaving _quite _yet.

She had definitely missed something.

A/N: Haha, I have been writing this forever, and don't know why I went back to it – but it makes me happy. I have a couple half chapters sitting around too, one with Hiiro and Relena, the other with Rei and Minako.


	4. Rubicon

A/N: This takes place soon after Rei and Hiiro meet in the garden. The fuzzy AU-ness of the backstory here is probably more apparent in this chapter.

* * *

After the catastrophe with the black-haired woman in the negotiation room, and maybe-catastrophe with her in the gardens, Hiiro felt mildly thankful that Relena was too caught up in other tasks to see him that day. He spent the rest of the afternoon fulfilling a mysterious need to move, alternating weights, cardio, and dexterity training well into the evening, and still he slept rather fitfully. By the time Relena's personal assistant found him in the morning, the sun was already quite high in the sky.

As he walked into Relena's gilded office, he felt an unusual pang of affection for the straw-haired queen-of-everything, though she looked quite as she normally did. Ok, queen-of-half-of-everything. He had loved her so intensely, at one time, and maybe he still did. But he was never quite sure that he liked her, and in any case, it wasn't something he had even thought about in a long while. He wondered to himself if it was another bizarre side effect of the acidic warmth he had been feeling in the pit of his stomach for almost an entire day now, but quickly decided that he didn't want to know.

"Hiiro? Are you … daydreaming?"

Caught in an awkward out-of-character act, Hiiro did what he usually did in such situations and remained both silent and expressionless.

"Nevermind," Relena moved on quickly, "I wanted to tell you about my meeting with Queen Serenity."

This time he frowned. "When was this?"

"Oh, we met this morning for breakfast. Just the two of us... well, she brought her daughter as well. Cute girl, sort of a brat, but still charming … strangely pink hair..." Relena trailed off in thought, clearly trying to piece together how a blonde queen and her black-haired king had produced pink-haired spawn.

Hiiro frowned even more. This was hardly relevant. And a weirdly pedestrian topic of discussion. But, he thought, if this alliance did succeed, it would be because of this: because Relena and Serenity, when it came down to it, were women. Him, Lady Mars, the rest of them, they were soldiers, warriors, bureaucrats, and loyal vassals – they could not reach across the table with empathy and friendship the way their queens still could.

Both Hiiro and Relena seemed to snap back to attention at the same time.

"Do you know what she told me about the yesterday's little incident?"

Of course, he didn't. And he didn't think he wanted to. Not that it would stop Relena from telling him.

"She says that she thinks Lady Rei yelled at you and threatened you because she likes you."

Relena's smile could definitely not be any more smug, but she had more to say, apparently.

"I told her, quite honestly, I had no idea what you part of the conversation was exceptionally odd; it was like we were mothers trying to set up a playdate for awkward children. Well, in any case, we made good progress, really."

She paused, looking off to the side, before continuing.

"Actually, I'd say we're 99% there."

"99%?"

"We decided to each appoint a full-time liasion to each other."

"And?"

"And Serenity says she'd like it to be you."

Hiiro did his level-best to look surprised, which, in his case, was a simple matter of remaining essentially expressionless.

"Why?"

"I'm not entirely sure. I mean, to hear her say it, it sounds like she wants this for Mars. But I'm a little skeptical about this alleged crush, especially the part where anyone would build their foreign policy around it. Serenity is pretty guileless, but surely not to that extent."

"Perhaps they just have no other opinion."

"Perhaps. But she did say that if we sent you, they'd send Venus."

"And that's good?"

"Venus is Serenity's number one – just like you. She knows there's no other way I'd send you. And I'd like it to be Venus. "

This, Hiiro wanted to hear.

"She could be useful in our organization, we don't need fighters or wizards, or whatever they are. We have plenty of analysts and guards. We need an ambassador, and that's Venus. She's also probably the only one of them that either charm or tolerate all of my generals. Although, without you around, that's not as enormous a task. So the question remains, can you charm or tolerate the senshi?"

Hiiro sensed the pointed question behind the question, and his mouth went suddenly very dry. In self-defense, he refocused his gaze on the landscape painting that hung above her desk.

"Hiiro, I want to be honest with you. I want this to happen – if you'll agree to it. I mean, I admit I have some reservations. I'm not fully sure that I can trust you to give 100% to making this alliance work. I worry about our own organizational morale with you out of the picture."

She hesitated here, and Hiiro lowered his eyes until they met hers. She did not look away.

"And yes, there is some regret in my heart – although I have can honestly say, that I am much more amused by this situation than jealous."

This was more than Relena had said about her feelings in years, and still Hiiro couldn't find any words to say, even assuming he were inclined to speak them. Relena stilled a small quiver in her lip, and after a moment to steel herself, spoke again.

"I am a queen, Hiiro. No matter what you think, I am more queen than woman. This alliance is important. It means peace, and the satisfaction of the sacred ideal that my family stands for. There is no personal consideration that could even come close to making me even question doing everything in my power to make this work."

The iron in Relena's eyes left Hiiro in no doubt of her sincerity. She still cared for him, but that feeling was barely a drop compared to what really mattered to her.

"I think I've already said quite enough on the subject. Give me an answer, Hiiro, will you go?"

Hiiro was not exactly an unemotional man. But he prided himself on exceptional control of his mind when the situation called for it, and to be honest, the situation had been calling for it for five years running now. Part of it was probably genetic, and part of it was a strong logical conviction that his own exceptional abilities allowed him to control his destiny to the extent that any individual could, but he simply did not experience dizziness, racing heartbeats, and lumps at the back of the throat.

In this moment, his head swirled with maelstrom of thoughts, his heart thumped against his ribcage so loudly, he could hear it even over the terrible din of the blood rushing past his ears. Aware, somewhere deep inside him, that he was stepping into a Charybdis-whirlpool of fate that not even the great Hiiro Yui could escape, he answered.

"Yes."

* * *

Note: I'm reasonably confident that very very few people will read this. Yet, I can't help but come back to this, years and years a after its conception. There are two chapters half-written on my computer, and a few more plot bunnies in my head that would love to get out, but obviously, caveat lector, given my extremely shady update history.


	5. Doldrums

A/N: This is set in a future time – sometime after chapter 3.

Rei sighed as she slipped one last batch of pans into the sink for the dishwasher. She stripped off her gloves, her apron, the bandana tied around her braided coils of hair, and rolled her head around her neck in a circle, slowly, cringing at the number of cracks. With one last ook around the kitchen, she headed towards the back door, grabbing the trash on the way out. The restaurant wasn't a fancy one – which was probably why she was able to get this job. Making salads and frying baskets of potato wedges and chicken strips – it wasn't satisfying, but at least it wasn't all cleaning bathrooms (a noble profession, to be sure, but not one Rei thought she would enjoy), Plus, she didn't have to interact with very many people – a consideration made more important by the fact that they were supposed to be in hiding.

Which is why she was so surprised to see a cheerful blonde right outside the door.

Mina, looking somewhat pale, but very pretty with her new short haircut, didn't say anything, but Rei knew that you didn't show up to see someone you were supposed to be staying away from (for your own safety, to boot) just to say hi.

"Hi."

Of course, if your name is Aino Minako, maybe you do. Rei rolled her eyes as she hefted her bag into the dumpster. She grabbed the other girl by the wrist, and pulled her down the alley a bit to where a couple crates had been set out by other employees who took frequent smoke breaks.

"What is it, Mina?"

"Well," Mina began, smoothing her skirt before taking a seat next to Rei, "I was wondering how you and Hiiro were doing."

At this point, Rei couldn't really be surprised about what Mina had come to her workplace to say. She had a blistering lecture ready about the meaning of 'laying low', with a coda on 'staying separate to decrease our profile' but she realized that there were some things that she might kind of, sorta of, maybe want to talk about. Hiiro was many excellent things, but he was also the King of Not Talking about Things. She was something of a High Viscountess of Not Talking About Things herself, but he was just too good at not talking, even for her.

"Things are different," she said, her gaze focused on a brick on the opposite wall, "I mean, we weren't ... together, before, not really. And now we are, I guess? But we're both stressed out trying to adjust, and...it just feels weird, because everything is different."

"You mean it's less exciting."

"It's more like … every moment we spent together just seemed so important. Before, we were a senshi and a general, conspiring against the will of both our queens. And now...we're a line cook at a shitty diner, and a security guard at an office building. Now, I'm supposed to be a normal woman, and he's supposed to be my normal boyfriend? That's not him. That's not us."

"But you still love him."

"I've never said I loved him."

Mina just gave her a look.

"...And he's never said he loved me."

This time Mina snorted. "Nice try, Mars-chan, but he totally did. It was right in front of me. And the co-rulers of the solar system, and about a hundred video cameras. Literally every conscious being for a million miles has heard Hiiro say he loves you."

"That was one time. And we were both pretty confident of our imminent demises."

"Exactly what I'm talking about – yeah, right, you guys were going to die for each other, but no, of course you're not in love."

"Not necessarily. There were other reasons to turn myself in. Honesty, integrity, justice, you know – the divine ideals of the utopian reign of Serenity and Peacecraft?"

"Sure, but that's not what you were thinking about."

Rei knew Mina was right, and consequentially, said nothing.

"You know, Rei, I remember when you were just as crazy to be in love as the rest of us, not that you would ever admit it. My best memories are of you singing and dancing and laughing. When did you get so dour?"

"And you haven't changed a bit since age 15, Sailor V?"

"We're not talking about me."

"Well, I don't want to be talking about me, either. In fact, I'm pretty sure I don't want to be talking to you at all. Didn't we split up to be less conspicuous? Are you really risking blowing our cover to ask me about my love life?"

"No, Rei, I came here to see how your life was going. You know, that thing I risked my own life to save."

"I never asked you do to that, Mina."

"Well, what, then? Why don't you just go back and throw your life away on that crystal guillotine? I'm pretty damn tired of watching you squander it just because you're too scared, and too stubborn to admit you actually love someone and want to be loved."

"Oh right, because our lives would just be so perfect now, if only I would _surrender_ to the perfectness of it all."

"Look, alright, yes! The Sanq Security Force could bust in your door any day, but this is stupid. I remember when you said that you just had to order a bajillion people assassinated because it was in your _nature_ as the senshi of war. Well, I'm the senshi of love, and _my_ natureis to not sit by and let my best friend waste it. Every day is a day you get to live with someone who means the world to you. Millions of people never get that. Millions of people wish they had a chance at that."

The volume of Mina's screaming dropped off suddenly into silence which stretched for long, painful minutes until Rei finally spoke.

"...ok."

"Ok?"

"Ok. You're right."

"Oh."

"So...how are things going with you and Duo?"

"They suck. Hey, Rei, I was wonderng something."

"Yes, Mina?"

"They make giant mechas that fly around and shoot cannons and all that, right?"

"...yes..."

"And you're a pretty terrible cook, right?"

"..."

"Why haven't they invented robot chefs to do your job, yet?"

Fin.

A/N: I can't believe I actually got out another chapter. BTW, if you haven't noticed, my general patttern is two alternating time frames – the earlier one starting with the diplomatic conference (chapters 2,4), and the later one starting with Hiiro's trial (1,3,5), which means we're going back to the 'past' (the future past?) for chapter 6.


End file.
